PORTLAND, Oregon, March 9, 2017 — Eating a diet lacking in healthy foods and/or high in unhealthy foods was linked to more than 400,000 deaths from heart and blood vessel diseases in 2015, according to an analysis presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention / Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2017 Scientific Sessions.

Eating more heart healthy foods, and less foods with high amounts of salt and trans fats, could save tens of thousands of lives in the United States each year, researchers said.

“Low intake of healthy foods such as nuts, vegetables, whole grains and fruits combined with higher intake of unhealthy dietary components, such as salt and trans-fat, is a major contributor to deaths from cardiovascular disease in the UnitedStates,” said Ashkan Afshin, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc., Sc.D., lead study author and acting assistant professor of global health at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. The institute is home of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study , which conducted the new analysis. “Our results show that nearly half of cardiovascular disease deaths in the United States can be prevented by improving diet.”

The new analysis was designed to pinpoint how diet impacts heart and blood vessel disease; it relied on 1990-2012 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, food availability data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as well as other sources.

Looking at U.S. cardiovascular deaths in 2015, researchers found less-than-ideal dietary choices – both a lack of healthier foods and an excess of less healthy foods – played a role in the deaths of an estimated 222,100 men and 193,400 women. Researchers also evaluated the degree to which leading dietary risk factors were linked to cardiovascular disease deaths:

10 thoughts on “Claim: Unhealthy diets linked to more than 400,000 cardiovascular deaths”

Every one of those metrics is a dog whistle for “poverty.” REAL meta-analysis, like that done by the Cochrane Collaboration, makes it plain that “longevity” and one’s personal burden of morbidity is determined overwhelmingly by socio-economic status plus genetics. Neither is much within our power to change. Groups like the AHA at this point are propping up the failed “lifestyle” argument for the greater glory of the “diet” and “fitness” industries . . . and the over-medicalization of the “worried well,” read “worried, well-insured rich.”

“Low intake of healthy foods such as nuts, vegetables, whole grains and fruits combined with higher intake of unhealthy dietary components, such as salt and trans-fat, is a major contributor to deaths from cardiovascular disease in the UnitedStates,”

What a dumb statement this one is the worst “whole grains” did any of these educated idiots live on a farm? You feed grain to live stock to fatten them up! Why would it be any different with humans?

These percentages are very similar. *suspicious*
These guys may know about Global health but do they know about statistics? Deep knowledge of statistics ought to be a prerequisite for writing these papers.

and just how did they survey all the dead people for what they ate all their lives??? Was it anecdotal “evidence” from relatives? Or did they survey currently alive folks in an area and then look at death ratios and extend from one group to another just by location? Did they control for migration in and out of the area?? Did they control for other factors like wealth or family genetics?

It sounds like a pure bunch of magical links like most “science” these days. First Law of Statistics: correlation is NOT causation.

Looking at my ancestors, if they survived illness, accidents, and starvation, then they must have been hard working calorie burners and all of that so-called bad stuff got burned off before it could harm them.

I have an anecdote, which doesn’t prove anything. Years ago, my sister brought my then 84 year old father into the VA for a check up.
When the doctor told him he should eat more fruit and vegetables, he replied,
“LOOK, I’m 84 years old! Just how much longer do you expect me to live if I start eating that crap?”
My father is now 97, so despite eating plenty of bacon and eggs, and few vegetables, he has lived longer than most 84 year olds. I suspect that genetics is the main factor in a long life.

Interesting to note that 2 weeks ago the AHA raised the issue of thrombomodulin repression by nicotine…
It turned out that there is NO thrombomodulin in the human brain but plenty in the lungs and placenta…
I held my breath for 2 weeks, but no further comment from the AHA…….
The actual possibility of pulmonary thrombosis and fetal O2 deprivation from thrombomodulin repression seems to have escaped these ‘experts’ altogether….
Do not attempt to take anything the AHA says ‘with a grain of NaCl’, however………….